


i tried cutting the ropes

by buttons



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-24
Updated: 2013-01-24
Packaged: 2017-11-26 18:29:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttons/pseuds/buttons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[ <i>Do you love her like you said you loved me? </i> ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	i tried cutting the ropes

**Author's Note:**

> because i am tragic and morbid at 4am. title from 'ten days' by missy higgins

His hands fumble with the tie, slender fingers very nearly strangling the black strip of silk until it's in danger of tearing in half. In the mirror his best friend's mouth twists into a vague smirk, watching the struggle.

 

"You still suck at that. It's nice to know some things never change."

 

Louis turns, giving his best man a tired, exasperated glare. He tugs on the tie, wondering if the tuxedo would look just as good without it.

 

Liam clears his throat gently picking a photograph off the dressing table beside him. It's recent, taken only a week before on the beach, a grinning tanned Louis carrying an equally tan Eleanor on his back. He puts it back down, turning it backward so that the couple are grinning at the wall. "So, this is it then. The big step. Are you sure you're ready for this?"

 

Louis's frustration toward his tie is obvious, his handsome face in a concentrated frown. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."

 

"Yeah." Liam says and deep down he wonders how Louis is so sure about being ready when Liam swears he can still taste him somewhere inside his mouth. He wonders how Louis can be so sure when Liam knows Louis's back is laced with fresh scars from Liam's fingernails. His teeth.

 

Outside the room, somewhere else in the vast house, someone shrieks with glee. Liam looks out the window and he can see the makeshift aisle, fancy white silk trails against the vibrant green grass. He's never seen a day so clear and beautiful, so full of sun and brilliant hues and he loathes everything he sees. He wishes the sun would die. He wishes Louis would stop touching the damn tie.

 

When he speaks his voice is so low it almost doesn't make it and he certainly doesn't plan it. It's the question he hasn't stopped wanting to ask ever since Louis and Eleanor met at the damn party. "Do you love her?"

 

Louis's body tenses and he flicks his eyes over at Liam's reflection, on the other side of the room. "Of course I do. Would I be marrying her if I didn't?"

 

His tone is light. Casual. As though inside he's not beginning to panic.

 

Liam looks at his friend, meeting the reflected blue eyes. Privately, he thinks they're much more vibrant than the stupid sky. "I don't know." He answers and Louis is beginning to hate how soft his voice is. "Would you?"

 

Louis can sense it coming and he already knows every secret question Liam is asking. Every question Liam wants to ask. He exhales very slowly, twisting the tie in his hands and he's not even trying to tie it anymore. He's only keeping his hands busy, distracted, because his fingers are starting to remember how soft Liam's hair is. How easy it is to bury his face, his entire world, in.

 

"Liam...don't start this. I don't...can we talk about it later?"

 

"When?" Liam asks and his voice has turned bitter and defiant. "After your honeymoon? Or should I wait 'til the kid's born? When should I bring it up? When it suits  _you?"_

 

"Liam." Louis repeats and he has not planned this. He keeps his eyes locked on the mirror and starts on his tie again, distractions beyond welcome. "Please. Don't. Not here. Not now. It's my  _wedding_  day." He adds purely out of desperation.

 

Liam is quiet, his brown eyes narrowed at the floor. There's a dim racket coming from another room, music maybe. His heart is pounding already, hot anger already spreading through his gut. His hands fist by his sides. It still surprises him how quickly he can get worked up over Louis. Over Eleanor. Over  _them._ "Fine. So when do you plan on telling your precious future wife you've been fucking me for the past two years?"

 

Louis's hands slip, and the tie slips off from around his neck and puddles on the floor at his feet. "Don't...there's nothing to tell." He tries so very hard to keep his voice steady and firm, to keep his eyes on his own reflection and to keep his heartbeat under tight control. He tries so hard. "We're friends."

 

Liam snorts, his nostrils flaring and he glares up at Louis's back. "Bullshit. Why won't you –"

 

"We've already discussed this." Louis says evenly and he crouches down to pick up the tie. The silk is too smooth, too slippery, and he drops it twice. Or maybe it's nerves. He wishes Liam would stop. He isn't prepared for this. He needs to end it, he needs to shut Liam up. He wishes he hadn't chosen Liam as his best man. They're too complicated. "It's over. Whatever...it was just a stupid..."

 

"Fling?" Liam sneers and his own tuxedo is far too thick and hot.

 

Louis winces as though in pain and loops the tie around his neck. His hands are shaking. "I...yeah...Liam..." He swallows and his hands are shaking too much; the tie constantly escaping his fingers. "It's over. I'm getting  _married._ "

 

Liam stomps over to him, grabbing him by the shoulders and twisting him around so that they're facing and far too close for Louis's liking. Louis opens his mouth to protest but Liam's faster. He grabs the tie ruthlessly, twisting and swooping it until it's perfect.

 

Louis stares up at him, unsure and he can't do this right now. They can't do this. Not now, not ever. Not again. He's getting  _married._ "It's over, Liam." He whispers because his voice just can't hold.

 

Liam's brown eyes flash with something dark and furious. "Then what the fuck were you doing last night!? If it's so fucking over, if you're so fucking ready to marry some stupid girl you met merely a few months ago what the fuck were you doing last night!? If it's so fucking over why the hell do you keep coming back to me?!"

 

Louis's reflexes are quick, infuriated, hot with rage and denial and confusion. "I'm not!"

 

Liam snorts and he's almost laughing, a twisted horrible bark and sometimes he just wants to slam his fist into Louis's perfect bloody face. "Yeah, right. You've said that a thousand times. And by the following night you're practically begging me to fuck you again."

 

"Shut up!" Louis yells and he doesn't care if anybody hears, he doesn't care if Eleanor comes running in because right now he's just about ready to strangle Liam. "Just _SHUT UP_!"

 

"Do you love her?" Liam snarls, and his teeth flash dangerously. "Do you love her like you said you loved me?"

 

" _Shut up!_ "

 

"Just answer the fucking question!"

 

"I said  ** _shut up_** ** _!_** "

 

Before he even realises it himself Louis is upon him, his fist finding Liam's smooth open face. They fall to the hard floor, a desperate tangle of limbs and fists, snarling and gnashing their teeth like animals. Louis's punches are wild, uncoordinated, easy to dodge and Liam is too quick, too experienced, too flexible. He catches Louis's fists in his own and twists, rolling and grunting until Louis's underneath him, his lithe form squirming angrily, trying to pull his hands free so he can crush every bone in Liam's body. Liam throws his leg over the other side of him, straddling him, his face frozen in a feral snarl and Louis rears up, smashing their lips together in an angry ferocious kiss, forcing his tongue into Liam's warm, eager mouth.

 

Liam growls around Louis's writhing tongue, his hands immediately releasing the others and finding their way to the stupid cheap tuxedo. He tries the buttons but rapidly loses patience, his fingers simply clawing the material and ripping. The silk tears easily and Liam's hands are inside, his fingers roving desperately over Louis's tan chest. His mouth claims Louis's neck, teeth sinking into the sweaty flesh and Louis cries out in pain, twisting his long fingers into the other boy's dark locks. Liam pulls back, hazily grinning at the bloody bite-mark he's left and Louis whimpers, hot stinging pain burning through him, grabbing Liam's head and snaring his mouth again.

 

Liam groans throatily, growling, pressing himself hard against the other boy until Louis can feel every inch of him, every degree of heat radiating between them and Louis gasps sharply, grinding their hips and swiping his tongue along Liam's delicate pink ear, moaning louder, moving beneath him until Liam's fingers work their way under the silk belt and take him.

 

Louis throws his head back with a strangled gasp, arching up until Liam's mouth slams into his and his hand moves faster, his fingers heavier, needy moans tangled together, echoing through the room until their worlds spin and Louis jolts, Liam's name falling off his tongue in a voice that's not quite his.

 

Seconds pass and they stay there, fighting a losing battle that never seems to end.

 

"Tell me again that you love her." Liam pants roughly, glaring down at him with a possessive glint that only makes catching his breath even harder.

 

"I love her." Louis says hoarsely, his head rolling back onto the wood, sweat coating his forehead with his eyes tightly shut.

 

Liam's kiss is fiery and brutal and Louis accepts it willingly, moaning helplessly into his open mouth. Before it even begins Liam pulls away and Louis is left alone on the floor, cold air where Liam's warm body had been.

 

He doesn't open his eyes, his chest rising and falling rapidly, the bite-mark on his neck already turning purple and ugly.

 

"Liar." Liam whispers, and the door clicks behind him.

 


End file.
